Elsie Antonucci Nance

Sunday

Aug 4, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 6, 2013 at 10:40 AM

Stockton, CA

Elsie Antonucci Nance

September 20, 1920 - July 28, 2013

My mother's most repeated advice to me was "keep it short," and so I know she will not approve of this obituary. Her name is Elsie Virginia Carigiet Antonucci Nance, and on Sunday, July 28th, she quietly slipped away to heaven a few minutes after her daughter Kathy Graham and her dear friend Peggy Giles said the "Elsie Nance version" of the Rosary at her bedside in Creekside Care Center

Elsie was born nearly 93 years ago on her family's dairy farm in Snelling, CA. She was the fifth child of Mary and Henry Carigiet, immigrants from Switzerland. Her only memory of her dad was when he carried a doll into her room on Christmas eve and placed it next to her as she lay pretending to be asleep. She was barely four then, and just a few months later Henry died from a ruptured gall bladder. Soon after her father's death, the bank foreclosed on the farm, and the younger children were sent to live with relatives in San Francisco while her mother Mary and oldest brother Fred looked for a new home and new opportunities. They found them in the Manteca area and the family was reunited a year later. Their humble life was not easy by today's standards but there was a lot of love and laughter and a strong, courageous mother who held the family together.

It was from this difficult but wonderful childhood that came my mother - a truly remarkable woman. She was the epitome of what it is to be resilient - strong, confident, compassionate, fun, generous, and kind. She married twice, first to my father, Ray Antonucci. We lived on Sonora Street in the Eastside Little Italy area. Life was nearly perfect until my dad was killed in a solo car accident at 47. Mom was a widow until she met George Nance who she married when she was 60. They moved to a country home on Foppiano Lane and George died just three years later. Mom stayed on Foppiano Lane for the next 35 years, enjoying family and friends, gardening and mowing her lawns until she was well into her 80's.

Mom's greatest joy in life was doing things for others. She was the best listener and gave advice that always made sense and really did work. She had a wonderful way of making people feel better about themselves. She helped friends and relatives deal with serious health issues. A cancer survivor herself, she seemed to know what to say to replace fear with courage and hope. She took care of her second husband for six months until he died at home from pancreatic cancer, and she took care of her mother - in - law for two years until her death.

She loved giving parties and the family spent major holidays at her house. Her homemade ravioli gravy was perfection. She always had a little something on hand to offer visitors to eat, and when her nephews Ed and Gabe remodeled her bathroom she cooked a three course meal for lunch every day that they worked. She often picked boxes of apples in the orchard behind her house to take to friends or to her favorite doctors. She baked carrot cakes, wine cakes, and made stuffed onions for friends on their birthdays or just because she knew they enjoyed them. She enjoyed sending very carefully selected greeting cards to loved ones and never missed sending Christmas cards. She thought a lot about all of the people she loved and tried very hard to do things for them that would make their lives easier and happier - and this is what made her life happy and worth living.

On December 10, 2010, mom moved from Foppiano Lane to a home close to her daughter and son-in-law's home where she lived with her dear Muffy and the best caregivers ever. Finally due to failing health, she moved to Creekside Care Center until her passing.

Special thank's go to Director of Nursing Yvonne Stefani and the entire staff of Creekside Care Center for their excellent and professional care, as well as the compassion, friendship, and support they always gave Mom and her family. I would also like to thank Hospice of San Joaquin for providing the support we needed as the end neared and taking care of everything so perfectly and beautifully when it came. Finally, thank you to Jennifer Prieto from San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery for her patience working with me in designing a final resting place that is a reflection of all that my mother meant to me.

All family and friends are invited to join us in a celebration of mom's life on Saturday, September 21st, the day after her 93rd birthday at DeYoung Memorial Chapel at 11:00 a.m., 601 N. California Street, Stockton. Committal will be private at the San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery at a later date. Online guest book at deyoungchapels.com

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